The present invention relates to a dispensing apparatus and system for dispensing liquids, particularly for dispensing water for drinking, cooking and otherwise consuming.
Self-contained cabinets for holding bottled water incorporating a dispensing nozzle are known as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,881,380 and 5,042,689. These references describe cabinets having upright standing bottles located in a lower compartment with a pump for extracting water and passing the water through hot and cold water tanks via tubing. These patents describe cooling condensers which are large and exposed on a backside of the cabinets such as shown in FIG. 33 of either reference. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,689 describes a water bottle vent arrangement connected directly to the supply water bottle via a tube. A pressure switch 274 is connected via a pressure tube 278 into the primary water supply bottle also. According to this reference, three separate service connections are made to the water supply bottle: the vent tube, the pressure switch tube, and the water draw to the water supply pump. The connections can be made through a single, but complex, wand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,380 discloses a mechanical safety latch to prevent children from being able to operate the water dispensing push button.
Dispensing apparatus for filtering domestic water are generally known such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,599, U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,097 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,243. It is not known to provide water filtration and purifying apparatus within a cabinet accessible from a front side thereof, wherein the cabinet provides water refrigerating and heating equipment conveniently arranged above the filtration equipment. It is not known to provide in easily modifiable form, a cabinet system for holding an upright water bottle which can be simply modified to hold water filtration equipment in lieu thereof for connection to the domestic water supply, both applications having refrigeration and heating equipment mounted in an upper portion of the cabinet.